Col. Kyle B. “Brad” Head is currently the commander of the 23d Mission Support Group, Moody Air Force Base, Ga. He leads a group of more than 1,500 military and civilian members providing support and services to a population of 36,000 active-duty, retired military and family members. His group maintains an installation with almost 878 buildings and more than 118,000 acres, including an adjacent bombing/strafing range. He is responsible for ensuring the readiness of support forces to mobilize and deploy to build, secure, and sustain air base operations at austere bare base locations anywhere in the world.
Col. Head was born into an Air Force family and commissioned in 1997 following graduation from the United States Air Force Academy. He is a career personnelist who commanded both the 325th Force Support Squadron at Tyndall AFB, FL and 455th Expeditionary Force Support Squadron at Bagram AB, Afghanistan. His staff tours include duty as an action officer on the Air Combat Command, Headquarters Air Force, and Air Force Secretariat staffs and as the executive officer to the Air Force's Director of Legislative Liaison. His deployments include time in Iraq and Afghanistan in various advisory capacities helping rebuild their Air Forces and with the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee as a Military Assistant to the 2008 Presidential Inauguration. He was the first-ever US Air Force Fellow with the US Agency for International Development at the US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.
Prior to his current position, Col. Head served as the Chief of the Office of Defense Cooperation in Brussels Belgium where he was accredited to support the U.S. Embassies to the Kingdom of Belgium & the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the U.S. Mission to NATO and the U.S. Mission to the European Union. In that capacity, he successfully executed over $7 billion in foreign military sales cases including the sale of 34 F-35 aircraft to the Belgian Air Force.
EDUCATION
1997 Bachelor of Science, United States Air Force Academy
2003 Squadron Officer School, Maxwell AFB, AL
2006 Master of Business Administration, Liberty University, VA
2011 Joint Humanitarian Operations Course, US Embassy, Nairobi, Kenya
2011 Master of Art in Military Operational Art/Science, Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell AFB, AL
2018 Master of Strategic Studies, Air War College, Maxwell AFB, AL
ASSIGNMENTS
1. July 1997 – August 1998, Student, Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training, Naval Air Station Whiting Field, FL
2. August 1998 – July 1999, Student, Undergraduate Helicopter Training, Ft Rucker Army Air Field, Enterprise, AL
3. June 1999 – June 2000, Deputy Chief, Organization Section, Directorate of Plans and Programs, Air Combat Command, Langley AFB, VA
4. June 2000 – June 2002, Senior Management Engineering Analyst, Directorate of Plans and Programs, Air Combat Command, Langley AFB, VA
5. June 2002– July 2004, Assistant Professor of Aerospace Studies, Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps Detachment 025, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ.
6. July 2004 – May 2006, Director of Operations, Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps Southwest Region, Randolph AFB, TX
7. May 2006 – January 2007, Chief, Air Force Academy Program Assessment, Directorate of Force Development, Deputy Chief of Staff Manpower & Personnel, Headquarters Air Force, the Pentagon, Washington, D.C.
8. February 2007 – September 2007, Director of Curriculum Development and Senior Coalition Advisor, Iraqi Training and Doctrine Command, Coalition Air Force Transition Team, Multi-National Security Transition Command – Iraq, Baghdad, Iraq
9. September 2007 – May 2008, Chief, Air Force Uniform & Recognition Branch, Directorate of Force Development, Deputy Chief of Staff Manpower & Personnel, Headquarters Air Force, the Pentagon, Washington, D.C.
10. May 2008 – June 2009, Flight Commander, Military Personnel Flight, 11th Mission Support Squadron, 11th Wing, Bolling AFB, D.C.
11. May 2009 – July 2010, Chief, Congressional Research Branch and Executive Officer, Directorate of Legislative Liaison, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, the Pentagon, Washington, D.C.
12. July 2010 – July 2011, Student, Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell AFB, AL
13. July 2011 – July 2014, Commander, 325th Force Support Squadron, Tyndall AFB, FL (Deployed as Commander, 455th Expeditionary Force Support Squadron, Bagram AFB, Afghanistan Apr – Nov 2013)
14. June 2014 – July 2015, Executive Officer to the Secretary of Defense’s Representative to Europe and USNATO Defense Advisor, US Mission to NATO, Brussels, Belgium
15. July 2015 – June 2017, Senior Defense Policy Advisor and Chief of Defense Planning, US Mission to NATO, Brussels, Belgium
16. June 2017 – May 2018, Student, Air War College, Maxwell AFB, AL
17. July 2018 – June 2020, Chief, Office of Defense Cooperation, U.S. Embassies to the Kingdom of Belgium & the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the U.S. Mission to NATO, and the U.S. Mission to the European Union, Brussels, Belgium
18. July 2020- Present, 23d Mission Support Group Commander, Moody AFB, GA
MAJOR AWARDS AND DECORATIONS
Defense Superior Service Medal
Bronze Star Medal
Defense Meritorious Service Medal
Air Force Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters
Air Force Commendation Medal with one oak leaf cluster
Air Force Achievement Medal
Afghanistan Campaign Medal with one bronze star
Iraq Campaign Medal with one bronze star
PUBLICATIONS
The Coalition Air Force Transition Team: Rebuilding Iraq’s Air Force, Air & Space Power Journal - Winter 07
EFFECTIVE DATES OF PROMOTION
Second Lieutenant May 28, 1997
First Lieutenant May 28, 1999
Captain May 28, 2001
Major January 1, 2007
Lieutenant Colonel April 1, 2012
Colonel August 1, 2018
(Current as of July 2020)